Aimée Dorr, former dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies who also served as provost of the University of California system, passed away January 24 at the age of 83.
“As dean, Aimée helped set the course for the newly formed UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, bringing together the Departments of Education and Information Studies to pursue research, scholarship, and practice within and across their respective fields,” said Christina (Tina) Christie, Wasserman Dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. “Her vision and leadership helped our school develop future generations of scholars, teachers, information professionals, and institutional leaders, and established a powerful commitment to the principles of responsibility and social justice, an ethic of caring, and deep partnership with communities that continue to guide our work today.
“On a personal note, I remain profoundly grateful for her steady counsel, her generosity of spirit, and the quiet confidence she placed in so many of us as we grew into our roles here at UCLA,” Christie added.
Dorr joined UCLA as a professor in the Department of Education in 1981. Her research in part focused on the impact of electronic media on children, including publishing such works as “Children and the Media Environment: Change and Constancy Amid Change,” in the journal Communication Research. Dorr was also known for her expertise in policy analysis and the role of research in policy decision making.
Dorr was appointed dean of the then UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies in September 1999. During her 13-year tenure, she helped to establish the school as a leader in education and information studies. The school also significantly enhanced the diversity of its faculty, students and staff; increased graduate enrollment, grew full-time faculty equivalents, and increased financial support for students in its Ph.D. and professional programs. Dorr also provided leadership to UCLA in creating and supporting the UCLA RFK Community School in 2009, an award-winning K-12 university-assisted community school serving students and families in the Pico-Union/Koreatown area.
“I was education department chair while Aimee was dean. Her leadership shaped the development of mine,” said Megan Franke, professor of education at UCLA. “She led the department through exciting and challenging times, always making sure we had the resources we needed to meet the needs of students and engage in research. She cared deeply about us and our work together in Ed&IS and she worked tirelessly for us.”
“Aimee was a brilliant scholar and an insightful dean,” added Christine Borgman, distinguished research professor and presidential chair in information studies, emerita, at UCLA. “She was committed to the intellectual integration of information studies and education, drawing on her communication scholarship, attending information studies conferences and participating actively in our department.”
“She was extraordinarily dedicated and fair in school and department administrative affairs,” said Anne Gilliland, professor of information studies and director of the Center for Information as Evidence at UCLA. “She always took a keen interest in the research in the information studies department because of her own background working with educational media and technology.”
At UCLA, Dorr played key roles in academic leadership, serving as co-chair for UCLA’s Academic Preparation and Educational Partnership programs and as UCLA Senate division chair in 1996-97. She served as chair and vice chair of the UC-wide Academic Senate and faculty representative to the UC Board of Regents.
Dorr was appointed as provost of the UC System in 2012, serving as the system’s chief academic officer and leading efforts to ensure the academic excellence of the UC’s 10 campuses. She served as provost until retiring in 2017.
Dorr earned her BS in mathematics from Stanford University, where she also earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology. Before joining the faculty at UCLA, Dorr was a faculty member at Stanford, Harvard University, and the University of Southern California, where she served as associate dean of the Annenberg School of Communications. She has also held a visiting professor appointment at Beijing Normal University. Dorr was a fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.